Don’t Blame Us For Metalcore
In the last few years I've seen some album and show reviews that credit us, as well as bands like Overcast, Integrity, and Converge, as the precursors to what these days is called metalcore. Thanks, but no thanks. To be responsible in any way for the rise of metalcore is like being responsible for a dirty diaper. In all of the bastard forms of metal and hardcore that have come out over the years, grind, crust, etc, metalcore is the most base and thoughtless of all forms. We commonly refer to it as lowest common denominator rock, geared more towards fan reaction and record sales than the passion and honesty that comes from sheer volume, chemistry, and the ability to both physically and mentally stun an audience. There were bands, often overlooked, who were able to meld the two forms of music into a sum greater than it's parts. To me the originators were The Amebix, one of the first underground bands to mix both clean and screaming vocals and delicate musical passages with sludge ridden ferocity, as well as bands like Born Without A Face from Michigan, The Black Flag metallic damage of Blast, Corrosion Of Conformity's Sabbath worship, the skronk of Die Kreuzen and early Prong, Sheer Terror or Leeway as well as next generation bands like Deadguy, Absolution, Bloodlet, Coalesce....
Every once in a while I get suckered into buying one of the new metalcore releases, either to check out the production or because of the reputation of a guitar player, and every time I call Rennie in shame and confess what I have done. It seems that these bands go to the recording studio, set the Pro Tools rig to the generic metalcore template of beat detective drums, a solid but unimaginative rhythm guitarist, a technically exceptional yet equally unimaginative lead guitar player, a monotone screamer, and enough chugging low E and breakdowns to make the 'kids' move in the pit. Presto...mediocore. Please, I'm begging you, stop with the Maiden via At The Gates riffs, the breakdowns that the Cro Mags will always do better than you, the tone deaf vocals and tough guy lyrics, and the typewriter accurate quantized drums. Give a listen to a band like The Chariot and The Psyke Project who record live in the studio and show more heart and metal damage than a roster full of metalcore. I long for natural sounding drums, songs that sway and surge like a heartbeat, raw and ragged guitars, and lyrics that speak to me the way Articles Of Faith, The Amebix, and Bad Religion spoke to me.
Sure, the guys in Starkweather are still musical barbarians, knowing nothing of chords, scales, or sometimes even the names of the strings, sure I still don't know the difference between meter and tempo, or what 3/4 or 7/8 timing is, but I do know how to drive 6 fucking hours in Garden State and Jersey Turnpike traffic every Saturday to leech the poison from my fucking head, I know how to celebrate an insane drum fill that Harry goes for and doesn't quite make, a new vocal pattern, Vin mercilessly trying to rip the neck off of his bass, or the rush of crafting a 12 minute long song and getting through it for the first time. Starkweather will never ride in a bus unless it's Greyhound, never sell more than a handful of albums, and never get packs of clean socks or towels on our show rider, but we will always light up the fucking room with fury, passion, and a deep love of who we are and what we do.
Fuck Metalcore.
